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Exam Rules, Policies, and FAQ

Summary: You must complete this exam within the time limit without collaborating with other people or using prohibited AI. Any attempts to circumvent this policy will be considered an Honor Code Violation.

No Collaboration Policy (the Georgia Tech Honor Code Requirement)

Danger

These rules pertain to Honor Code violations, which will result in you being reported to the Georgia Tech Office of Student Integrity and likely receiving a 0 on the exam, at a minimum. Academic misconduct in graduate programs are treated seriously.

  • No collaboration of any kind. This includes:
    • Working with any person via any means of communication
    • Seeking direct help via making posts, or engaging bots such as ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot
    • Attempting to use any homework help service (ex: Chegg)
    • Receiving or sending exam solutions (including code fragments specifically related to the exam)
    • Searching for exam solutions (if you do find them, report it via Piazza and close the page)
  • Proctoring limitations must be observed:
    • You are only allowed one device to take the exam. This includes one monitor, computer, mouse and keyboard.
    • The recording must clearly show you completing the work, meaning that it should be clear that you are the person typing and clicking, producing a result on the screen. If you use scratch paper as you are welcome to do, you can simply show that to the camera as you start typing your output from that.
  • No misleading TA's or creating false posts (this should be obvious, we regret that we have to say it):
    • Out of fairness to all students, we will thoroughly investigate all claims of bugs and all requests for accomodations. We will use proctoring data, Vocareum logs, and any other data available in order to make a fair decision.

Policy regarding AI usage on exams

The syllabus covers this explicitly here: AI Collaboration Policy

While tools and other website may have AI integration, the distinction as explained in the syllabus should be clear. If you are using the website or tool in such a way that it is doing any more for you than Google search's basic AI Overview, then that's not allowed. That includes things like auto-complete in IDE's, and anything else you may provide context to in order to get a partial (or full) solution to exam problems.

Tip

While these AI tools may be useful, and you may have found yourself using them as a learning aid for topics in this class, we recommend against relying on them. On the exam you will not be allowed to use them, so as you prepare for your exam, you should practice not using them. Troubleshooting for example, is something that you will need to practice doing on your own, even as appealing as it may seem to mass paste code into AI to get a hopefully correct solution. The syllabus section here describes a bit more about our thoughts on this topic AI Collaboration Policy. With the current pace of advancement, it's worth a read.

Exam Rules - Detailed

Requirements, and things that are Not Allowed

  1. No collaboration (see above "Honor Code Violations" section)
  2. No discussion of exams until after the solutions are released. This means:
    • No discussing exam content, structure, question order, difficulty, or anything about the exam
    • No posting of this information on any platform
  3. TAs cannot assist. During the exam the TAs are on 'radio silence' mode, meaning we monitor piazza, but do not reply to posts unless they involve platform/technical issues, or other special issues. We do not help you debug, nor 'clarify' any questions for you.
    • For example, asking if the data needs to be sorted in a specific order would be asking for clarification on instructions. Answering this question would give you information not available to other students, and this is not fair.
  4. TAs can assist if you with technical issues. See the 'Getting Support' section in the Exam Guide for more details..
  5. Time limit: You have the number of hours specified, usually 3-4.5, or the close of the exam window to complete your test, whichever comes first.
    • If you start the exam at 1059 UTC Wednesday, you only have one hour to complete the exam, so make sure you don't wait until the last minute.
  6. Test window: The exam is only available during the window of time specified in the course schedule.
  7. Technology restrictions:
    • Only one computer/device allowed (no secondary computer, no tablet, etc.)
    • Only one monitor/screen allowed
      • You may have multiple monitored plugged in, but the ones you aren't using need to be deactivated. Honorlock/Proctortrack will let you know if there's an issue. This may take a few minutes to figure out, so please test your setup beforehand and confirm there are no issues.
    • Browser requirements:
      • For MSA/OMSA: Chrome is required for Honorlock, but you may have other browsers open.
      • For edX VMM: Any Proctortrack-compatible browser is required, and we recommend having one more ready to go per the troubleshooting steps.
    • Webcam required. A built-in one is acceptable, but it must be positioned so you are facing it during the exam (ex: if you're using a laptop with an external monitor, you need to position the laptop so it's very close to the other screen). If your workspace is not visible for the entirety of your testing window, we will have to conduct a manual review of the proctoring data.
  8. No copy/paste allowed: Unfortunately while this is not ideal, this is a necessary restriction. The time caps calculated for exams will incorporate this restriction into them, meaning the caps will be created knowing that you will have to spend some small part of your time typing code (whether you're copying from stackoverflow or your own notes, we know it'll take a bit of time).
  9. Room/workspace restrictions: The following will generate flags in the proctoring tool that we review and approve. If what happened won't be obvious to us during review, please make a private piazza post after the exam with a quick note explaining the circumstances (please be brief!).
    • No other people around if possible
      • It's ok if you're in the living room and family walks by, or if you cat needs to investigate what's going on
    • No talking (to people in the room, to people on your phone)
      • if a family member has a quick question, or you get an urgent call, loudly tell them you're taking a test and are not available.
    • No other technology around you (no phones, tablets, other computers, etc.)
      • Please make sure everything is visibly 'off' and not being used
  10. Environment Package Restrictions
    • Importing packages: importing a specific package is allowed on Vocareum. You can find a full list of installed packages here.
      • If you are working locally, your computer environment may be different. You may be able to import packages not in Vocareum, or you may import a package with a different version vs. the one on Vocareum. Be prepared to test your code and troubleshoot issues related to this.
    • Installing packages: install a specific package is not allowed. Vocareum allows you to install them, but they will not work in the autograder; therefore there is no reason to do this.

Resources, and Things that are Allowed

Now that we got all of the restrictions out of the way, these are resources that you are specifically allowed to have and things you are allowed to do during your exam. This list is not exhaustive--if you are not breaking the above rules and the spirit of the test, it is allowed. No collaboration is still the key.

Resources allowed: The test is open-note, open-book, and open-internet. You are allowed to use any resources that don't involve collaborating with another person or directly asking for help. It is not possible for us to list every resource that is permitted but here is a list of the most commonly used resources:

  • Notebooks and solutions (your copy + instructor solutions)
  • Practice exams and solutions
  • Notes (hand-written, digital, etc.)
  • Internet-based resources not subject to the no collaboration policy, such as Google search and view general coding forums, but you may not post on there. You can read and search piazza posts, but you may not post to other students.
    • For example, you can search Stackoverflow posts and read everything there, but you cannot make your own post
    • Review: AI Search Policy
  • Software that's not collaboration-related (any note app is fine, any music app, screenshot tool, etc.)
  • Local IDEs (warning: see FAQ question about local IDEs)
  • Sites like regex101, pythontutor, etc. (interactive sites where you aren't collaborating with another person)

Other things allowed:

  • Short breaks (<5 minutes; if longer, please speak into the camera and provide a quick explanation)
  • Eating/drinking
  • Listen to music with headphones using any music app (no speakers please!)
  • Other things that don't violate the above rules and spirit of the test

For everything else:

For anything not mentioned here or in the above rules area, please consider if you are getting outside help on a specific problem or if you are learning how to solve the problem. Generally as long as it doesn't conflict with the "no collaboration" and proctoring/tech requirement rules, it's fine.

Frequently Asked Questions

The information on the Exam Guide page takes precedence, but aligns with all of the information below. If you see any inconsistencies, please make a private piazza post and the staff will directly address it.

Info

You are not expected to read through everything below; this is just for your reference. We highly recommend you use CTRL-F or the site's search function to find the answers to your questions.

  1. How do exams work? - Review the Exam Guide, course syllabus, and exam release notes
  2. When does the exam open? - Check the course schedule. Exams are released on the date listed at 1200 UTC. Remember, UTC is a 24-hour clock.
  3. Can I take the exam earlier/later? - No, sorry. We are developing and testing the exam right until the release date. On the tail end, we need to close the exam and get solutions out to students. If there are circumstances that result in your being unable to take the test, you need to make a private piazza post to discuss this with the TA's ahead of time. It's a lot easier to resolve ahead of time rather than after.
  4. You said the exam time limit is X number of hours but the course schedule says it's open for 5 days - You have X number of hours to complete the exam once you open it, or until the exam window closes, whichever comes first. That means if you start the exam at 1150 UTC on the final date, you will have only 10 minutes to complete it.
  5. Is there a "best time" to take the exam when TAs will be around? - TAs cannot assist you with the exam other than for technical issues. That being said, TAs are scheduled from 8 am Eastern Time to 11 pm Eastern Time. You are welcome to take the exam outside of those hours. Any issues encountered when a TA isn't around will be resolved when TAs come on duty. Please see “Getting Support from TAs”
  6. When/where will my grade be posted? - As with Notebooks, Vocareum is the source of truth. If you have submitted and see the points accumulated in the "Grades" pane on the right-hand side of the screen, we have it. The finalized scores will be available on your LMS (Canvas for OMSA students and edX for VMM students) after the exam window has closed. They may show up sooner. If you see a lower score on your LMS than you saw in Vocareum, it will get updated.
  7. How many times can I submit my exam? - As many times as you want to. We recommend that you SUBMIT AFTER EACH EXERCISE! There is no excuse for not doing this.
  8. What if my code passes in the notebook but fails when I submit? - Your solution must pass the autograder to earn credit. See the Autograder section of the Exam Guide.
  9. How do I show my room to the proctoring software? - Either rotate the camera or use a mirror.
  10. What if I need help during the exam? - Please see “Getting Support from TAs” Do not make any public posts discussing exam material in any way! Doing so will be considered a violation of the Honor Code.
  11. How are exams graded? - Exactly like the homework notebooks. You submit your work to the Autograder, and it gives back a score. The autograder is the final arbiter of credit. We will not manually grade your work. If you choose to work outside of Vocareum it is your responsibility to get your code to work in Vocareum and submit it. See the Grading section of the Exam Guide.
  12. Can I get an exercise manually graded? - No; see Requests for Manual Grading of the Exam Guide
  13. Can I get partial credit for an exercise? - No; see Partial Credit of the Exam Guide
  14. How do I use a local IDE for the exam? - You are welcome to work locally but we don't officially support it and cannot help you. Additionally, with copy/paste disabled, using a local IDE will likely not be worth the trade off if you have to manually re-type your code into Vocareum. We heavily recommend getting comfortable using Vocareum as your main tool. If you're commited to using a local IDE, note that there may be differences in packages and configurations that result in code running differently than in Vocareum. Your code must run and pass the Autograder in Vocareum. There are no exceptions because "it ran locally".
  15. What is meant by "open-book, open-note, open-internet?" - You can look at any physical book, any physical or digital notes you have taken, all of the course materials, and anything on the internet. You may not communicate with another person to seek help (no posting to online forums, IM software, screen-share, etc) and you may not view any solutions which may have been posted online. See the Exam Guide page under Honor Code violations and Exam Rules.
  16. Can we see old exams? Yes. Practice problems are posted after all of the relevant material for the exam has been released.
  17. What is allowed during the exam? Please check the Rules page
  18. What happens if I cause a flag in the proctoring software? - There are many allowed behaviors which may cause proctoring flags (leaving the camera's view, noise from family/pets/etc, looking at physical notes). We review them, but unless there is evidence that you are communicating with another person about the exam or viewing solutions, we donot raise a violation. Despite the horror stories about online proctoring which you may have heard, we have been using these services for several years without any "false positives".
  19. I saw someone discussing the test (format, questions, solutions) - You are not penalized for stumbling upon anything, but you should report it to the teaching staff in a private piazza post. Please provide screenshots as well. We don't want anyone to have an unfair advantage and take all reports seriously.
  20. I have an urgent question, can I reach out to the staff via Canvas, Email, Linkedin, Personal Email, Facebook, or any non-Piazza platform? - No, Piazza is the only platform we monitor. Please make sure your private posts have 'instructors' listed as people who can view it, not specific ones only. Please also keep in mind we get a large number of posts around exam time, so urgent requests will be answered as quickly as we can. If possible, please make any requests ahead of time.
  21. Can I google the whole question? - Yes but you may not get good results. You'll probably have more luck breaking it down into discrete steps.